LSE Alumni Association event at the British Embassy: Distinguished Alumni Awards

A very successful event of the Hellenic Alumni Association of LSE (HAALSE) was held at the British Embassy in Athens on 20/10/2022.

An event of the Hellenic Alumni Association of LSE (HAALSE), at the British Embassy Residence in Athens, took place last Thursday, October 20th. During the event, distinguished alumni of the University were honoured for their work and contribution. In particular, the Association honoured the following four LSE alumni. Chloe Laskaridis as a distinguished representative of the next generation of entrepreneurs, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias for his contribution to the country's foreign policy and Evangelos Mytilineos for his long-standing contribution to Greek business.

The common thread of the awardees in their short speeches upon receiving their awards was the contribution of their studies at LSE to their subsequent career and development. While the fifth award was presented to Mr Kevin Featherstone, a leading Professor of the School, Head of the LSE Hellenic Observatory and a distinguished philhellene, for his major contribution to the study of modern Greece, his contribution to the LSE community and the promotion of UK-Greek relations. He even announced from the podium that a few hours ago he learned that he was being awarded honorary Greek citizenship.

The event was welcomed by the Director of the London School of Economics, Baroness Minouche Shafik, who praised the successful course of the Association and the personal contribution of its President, Dr. Apostolopoulos, underlining "the vitality of our alumni community in Greece".

In his speech, Dr Apostolopoulos noted, among other things, that "the LSE Hellenic Alumni Association is considered perhaps the most influential foreign university alumni association in our country - which of course reflects the passion with which we chose and studied at LSE. Its graduates excel in all aspects of local life and not just economics of course. We have therefore decided today to honour some of them whose course and footprint have honoured the university and also set sound standards in their fields at a time when society is in confusion and receiving disorienting stimuli. People of prominence in Greek society and with international stature."

The event closed with a keynote speech by Mr. Evangelos Mytilineou on the highly topical issue of "Energy security and the future of Europe in an environment of continuous crises", which highlighted the complexity of the energy equation, both independently and in relation to geopolitics and geo-economics, demonstrating the magnitude of the challenge internationally, with special emphasis on Greece and Europe and the major existential issues of the next period.

The event was attended by the Vice President of the Government Panagiotis Pikrammenos, the Deputy Minister of Health Mina Ganga, the Deputy Minister of Development Yannis Tsakiris and the Deputy Minister of Health Zoe Rapti, among others, Evangelos Venizelos, Dora Bakoyannis, Harris Theocharis, a number of MPs, Secretaries General, officials and Ambassadors of foreign countries, leading journalists and publishers, as well as more than 150 Greek graduates of the LSE.

The event was held with the support of Athens Medical Group (Gold Sponsor), Alpha Bank (Silver Sponsor), Aqurance, Grant Thornton, Industry Disruptors - Game Changers (ID-GC), and Metropolitan College (Sponsors), and the British-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (BHCC), BSS Plus, Craft, Consular Corps in Greece (CCG), Costero Europe, EFA GROUP, ELIKON, Generation-Y, Gizelis Robotics, MSCOMM, Tsomokos (SGT), Thyateira Union, Hellenic Business Association (E. EN.E) and EPSA (Supporters).